State of the Left: Fifty shades of beige

11 March 2016

Fifty shades of beige

This week’s State of the Left brings a stark
warning of the perils of political blandness and a reminder that, even
when searching for coalition partners, centre-left parties must craft
their own distinctive offer with broad-based electoral appeal.

Our New Zealand contributor, Josie Pagani, highlights a damning
milestone in the history of New Zealand Labour: a decade since the once
dominant party was last ahead of the conservative Nationals in any
published poll.

She considers the problem to be self-inflicted – the result of the party
turning in on itself and prioritising a forced façade of unity on the
left at the expense of fresh thinking. Any contest of ideas has become
heresy – the resulting lack of intellectual renewal has led to a bland
political offer that repeatedly fails to resonate with voters:

“Behind the placards the public sees cynical, risk-averse and
calculating individuals placating activists. Fifty shades of beige with a
megaphone.”

By resorting to gesture politics and behaving like a different protest
group each week the party appears to have given up on any effort to win
outright.

“Although coalitions are normal in New Zealand's German-style
proportional representation system, the strategy of trying to stitch
together a winning majority from a base vote of around 30 per cent has
failed three elections in a row.”

The lesson from New Zealand – that failure to build broad-based appeal
leads to perpetual failure at the ballot box – is one centre-left
parties would do well to heed the world over. Refusal to do so is a
masochism strategy worthy of Fifty Shades of Grey.

In France, the recent government reshuffle has been seen as an effort by
the Socialist party to build bridges with possible coalition partners
on its flanks, with the entrance of Green leader Emmanuelle Cosse and
increased representation for the radical left. Prime Minister Manuel
Valls has been forced to oppose the Socialists’ official stance in
support of a presidential primary, fearing this serves only to humour
the far left.

In last month’s general election in Ireland there appeared to be no
rejection of the centre left in policy terms and yet the Labour party
racked up devastating losses. Rather than boldly asserting itself the
party appeared too closely tied to its former coalition partner Fine
Gael.

Meanwhile, in Spain, the negotiations to form a new government are still
ongoing, with the Socialists trapped between centrists Ciudadanos and
Podemos on their left.

There is greater hope from Canada, where Justin Trudeau’s Liberals
pursued a courageous strategy to win outright in last year’s elections,
despite the strength of natural allies the NDP. Now in government, their
courage is paying off, with the party able to pursue a bold agenda to
build a more open, progressive and plural society.